My Rio240 set up - (!bunch of images!)

Finally a few photos of my tank - up and running since two months now.

the full set up



Corys digging along...



A Betta called Egon (he's a bit phlegmatic)



Oto + Ancistrus (the latter one I bought from Darren)



Pearl Gourami



Egon in his private property





one of the Golden Gouramis is got from Didhinio



two of them having an argument



and the Snakeskin Didhinio unfortunately had to get rid of as well...



and finally some black widows



looks like they all do fine.

Very nice pictures S180de. 8)

very nice. I like it.
Is the background DIY or did you buy it?

Do you have the standard Jewel lightning over it or did you add a few bulbs?

Would I be right in saying that you got rid of the inmternal filter and hooked an external one up?

Holger

PS. The picture you have lablelled as an Ancistrus isn't one. Looks like an octocinclus

The picture you have lablelled as an Ancistrus isn't one. Looks like an octocinclus

the ancistrus is camouflaged on the left. :wink: I bought the zebra otos in Wackers.

background is a standard poster I bought in the LFS in Dun Laoghaire.
Lighting is standard Jewel lighting. No reflectors but tin foil attached to the flaps. going to get reflectors at a later stage. both bulbs went bust within two weeks by the way. strange...
I use the Jewel internal filter as I want the water to stay inside of the tank. my brother had to many mess ups with leaking external ones.
Plants were ordered from Java in the UK (and were left rotting for a week at AnPost). I obviously lost several species and some others are still trying to recover...

Great pictures. Your tank really looks the biz.

Really great to see the gourami looking so happy!
I miss that Snake, I reared it from about an inch long.
Best time of the day to see him is in the winter mornings when you switch on the lights. Snakeskins night camoulflage is stunning, much better than their day clothes!!!
Well done mate!

Looks great, love the littel Zebra Otto. Plants look better than mine and mine were no in the care of AnPost, they just have to contend with lots of plecos.


Daragh

It's looking really nice.

How is Egon getting on with the other Anabantoids?

I know how frustrated you must've been with your plants arriving like that. I've had several orders from Java, where the more delicate ones like Hemianthus & Cardamine turn to mush in the post. It's ridiculous how long it takes to get here. I also used another plant company (not Greenline) who I found had some very nice stuff & would use again. I forget their name though.

Those zebra oto's are lovely. If you don't mind me asking, how much were they?

the ancistrus is camouflaged on the left. :wink: I bought the zebra otos in Wackers.

Ok, thanks for the hint. Sometimes you have to shove my face into it
The zebra ottos are very tasty. AHHH, I need more tanks....

An Post sucks and that's nothing new either.

The internal filter is nicely hidden behind all these plants. very impressed.

The moderators should post this tank in a beginners corner. Easy to keep fish, plants that will grow with the standard Jewel light bar fitted and a nice design that doesn't cost a fortune.

I used to stick tinfoil on the flaps on my Jewel tanks but they corroded. Any problems with that yet?

thanks for all the nice comments! I didn't keep any fish for about 10 years and only now am getting back into it (finally no longer moving around all the time). still I have to travel every now and then and don't have too much spare time I can spend on overly delicious fish and comprehensive maintanence (e.g. extraordinary water conditions and the likes).

to answer your questions and comments:
- the Zebra Otos were 7 EUR each. A bit expensive I first thought, but I had some algae, the Otos were healthy, and I've never seen these dudes before.
- the tin foil "oxidizes" over time but still is better than nothing and replaced within 10 min if necessary. I didn't buy reflectors as I was put off by the high prices. Maybe I'll get them the next time I'm over in Germany.
- Egon (bought from the Pet Shop in Capel (?) Street, EUR 6) gets on fine with the other Anabantoids, no probs at all. First I only had Black Widows (tank cycling) and added the Betta later. The BWs tended to nip at his fins a bit the first few days but he was fine and literally all over the place in the tank. not shy at all just a bit "slow" in his reactions.
- actually, initially I only wanted to go for Pearls but when I saw that Didhinio couldn't get rid of his fish I just decided to give them a new home (1 Snakeskin, 2 Golden, 1 Pearl). I had two Pearls in the tank already (bought from Boardwalk Pet Shop, the only two they had for 4 EUR each).
- the Corys are from Baumann's, a fiver each if I'm not mistaken.

I feed cucumber, courgette, peas (the snakeskin is wild for them), flakes, and freeze dried bloodworm. I didn't really use plant fertilizer so far but might need to do so once the thicket gets denser.

How much are reflectors in Dublin? I think they are about 8€ each in Cork. Don't think they are any cheaper in Germany if I remember correctly. I'm flying over in August and can check for you if you like but I don't think it's really worth it. If you need anything else brought over let me know.

zebra ottos for 7€ seems quite reasonable. I'd buy a few for that price but a fiver for a peppered cory seems a bit expensive. You get them for about 2.50-3€ a pop in Cork. But 4 € for a pearl gourami is quite good.

I saw reflectors (Juwel ones) here for EUR 15. They don't weigh a lot so it's handy stuff to bring some back over to IRE when I'm visiting my parents the next time. thanks for the offer anyways.

I bought 3 otos and wanted to get 2 more in case they do fine. unfortunately, wackers ran out of them quite fast. next time maybe. they like to socialize...

the Pearls were a special deal as one was very small. normal price was 6 EUR each. the Boardwalk Pet Shop tends to be cheaper than other LFS in general but sometimes I found the tanks to be a bit "messy" in comparison to other city center LFS to say it nicely. Friendly staff nevertheless.

Those reflectors also bend very easily once you take them out of the bulky box...
You can never have enough otos. They are great in groups. I would get 10 or more. My fish budget for this year is already way over the limit thanks to my water supply but those zebra octocinclus are the business

Hi S180de

Great looking tank. Regarding the plants, is there any chance that you could post a larger version of the first full tank picture and repost it. Maybe resize it too 800 x 600 of there abouts. I've tried zooming on your picture but it just goes fuzzy. I would like to see what the actual plants you have in there are! Cheers.

Denis

PM me your email and I'll send a high resolution version.

the java plants website has changed. most of the plants from this collection were included (in smaller numbers):
48 inch TROPICAL PLANT COLLECTION
(115 plants)
5 x Echinodorus Tennellus
5 x Hygrophilia Polysperma
5 x Red Ludwigia
5 x Ambulia Aquatica
5 x Bacopa Monniera
5 x Red Ivy
5 x Diplis Diandra
5 x Vallis Torta
5 x Elodea Densa
5 x Hairgrass
5 x Bacopa Caroliniana
5 x Pygmy Chain Sword
5 x Cabomba aquatica
5 x Vallis Corkscrew sml
5 x Crypt Lucens
5 x Water Wisteria
5 x Crypt Ciliata
5 x Creeping Jenny
5 x Crypt Wendtii
5 x Sea Grass
5 x Needle Leaf Ludwigia
3 x Nymphea Stellata
1 x Crinum Thaianum
1 x 5cm clump Java Moss
5 x Red Ambulia

I dumped the Java Moss as I consider this to be a weed in a normal tank. I lost 4 or 5 species due to AnPost either because they were decomposing already or them not recovering in the tank...

You have done a great job S180de :wink: . Its a wonderful looking tank.

Paul

Looks fantastic well done :wink: :wink: